Cereal yield decreased by a third

The total production of cereals in 2018 was 919,828 tonnes, which is 29.9% less than the year before. 450,265 tonnes of the production of cereals was wheat, 347,497 tonnes was barley and 29,511 tonnes was rye. The average yield per hectare was 2,913 kilograms for wheat, 2,509 kilograms for barley and 2,719 kilograms for rye.

In 2018, the sown area of cereals was larger than the year before. Cereals were grown on a total of 350,433 hectares, which is 6% more than in the preceding year. The sown area of wheat was 154,579 hectares – 8.9% less than in 2017. The sown area of barley increased by 35.1% and amounted to 138,485 hectares. The sown area of rye decreased by 18.5% compared to the preceding year and was 10,854 hectares.

The production of dry pulses was 70,966 tonnes, which is 5.8% less than in 2017. The average yield was 1,516 kilograms of dry pulses per hectare. Dry pulses were sown on 46,805 hectares, which is 28.6% less than in 2017. The sown area of dry pulses increased continuously over the past decade and decreased for the first time in 2018.

The production of rape and turnip rape seed was 113,595 tonnes. In 2018, rape and turnip rape were sown on 72,683 hectares. The average yield was 1,563 kilograms of rape and turnip rape seed per hectare. This means that the average yield of rape and turnip rape seed per hectare was also almost a third smaller compared to the preceding year.

In 2018, the production of potatoes was 88,434 tonnes, which is 3% less than the year before. The sown area of potatoes totalled 5,205 hectares. The average yield of potatoes was 16,990 kilograms per hectare.